A federal judge in California has rejected the government’s request to halt its appeal of a March ruling that temporarily blocked the Pentagon from labeling Anthropic as a supply chain risk.
Justice Department lawyers argued earlier this week that the appeal should be put on hold until a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge rules in another case regarding Anthropic’s clash with the Pentagon. US District Judge Rita Lynn declined that request on Thursday, noting that the D.C. case was brought pursuant to a different statute. “At best there is speculation that the DC Circuit’s decision will simplify the matters in this action,” he wrote in his order.
Due to a quirk in federal law, Anthropic was forced to file suit in both the Northern California and DC Circuits in March when it challenged the government’s action, calling it a supply chain risk. On April 8, a three-judge panel in the D.C. Circuit rejected Anthropic’s request to block the designation, leading to a split in the court.
Lynn also found in her order that government lawyers did not provide sufficient evidence that they needed an additional two months to compile administrative records from the 16 other agencies that Anthropic had sued in addition to the Pentagon. He decided that an additional four weeks would be enough.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This latest development in the legal struggle between the Pentagon and Anthropic comes as the administration has increasingly shown signs it wants to reconcile with the company.
Employees at federal agencies such as the Commerce Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology had previously sought to avoid government restrictions on the use of Anthropic’s technology to test its powerful Mythos model, according to a former senior US technology official with direct knowledge of the discussions.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wills, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and National Cyber ​​Director Sean Cairncross also met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei last week to discuss Mythos. President Donald Trump also told CNBC on Tuesday that a deal with Anthropic is “possible” and that company executives are “very smart people.”
